The long road away from street living: ‘I don’t want...

1of4Marcus Emery, homeless for two years, finally has a roof over his head — an East Oakland apartment.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

2of4Marcus Emery lived in a tent sometimes overrun by rats, then moved up to a Tuff Shed, and eventually managed to get into a home of his own.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

3of4Marcus Emery displays a note from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf in the bedroom of his new apartment.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

4of4Marcus Emery watches the Game Show Network in the bedroom of his new apartment.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

Some days Marcus Emery takes the bus from his East Oakland apartment to see friends in West Oakland.

But most days Emery, who was homeless for two years, stays at home, because there are people he doesn’t want to see.

“I’d rather be in here alone than be out there with all that (stuff) I had to deal with,” he told me.

Emery moved into the one-bedroom apartment on MacArthur Boulevard in late October. The last time I interviewed Emery, we sat on milk crates. This week we sat on new chocolate-colored couches.

I met Emery in 2017 in the Northgate Avenue tent encampment. That’s the year the rent for his Milton Street apartment, where he’d lived for 18 years, almost tripled — from $800 to $2,100 — and he could no longer afford it on his fixed income. Unable to keep up with payments, he was evicted.

His nephew, Shaun Moses, erected Emery’s first tent on Northgate Avenue, and Emery, who is known as Bishop, became a regular on the street that was swamped by the chaos of drugs, prostitution and desperation. When people on Northgate needed something — from shoes to food to rat traps — they’d look for Emery.

Marcus Emery formerly homeless, watches the Game Show Network from his own bed on his own TV in the bedroom of his new East Oakland apartment.

Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

That made him a target for the wicked. He was taken advantage of by people. He’s been knocked out. He’s been stabbed. He’s had his stuff stolen. And he’ll never forget the rats that pillaged his tent no matter how far away he swept the accumulated trash.

In May, Emery, 55, was relieved when he got a spot in Oakland’s second Tuff Shed site to temporarily house homeless people.

Since the first Tuff Shed site at Castro and Sixth streets opened in December 2017, 200 people have lived at the city’s three shed sites. According to city data, as of Dec. 31, 2018, 69 people have moved into permanent housing, and 24 people have moved into transitional housing. Thirty-two people have gotten jobs. (The city had a lease for the Castro site for only one year, and the last person moved out Monday.)

Emery, who grew up the youngest of 10 children on Chestnut Street in West Oakland, likes to cook. He moved into his apartment with two pots, two pans and two plates. He scavenged the teapot that’s on the stove. He wants a microwave. He watches “Bonanza” and his favorite shows on the Game Show Network, lying on his new bed.

His rent is $1,800. The Oakland Housing Authority pays $1,560, and Emery pays the remaining $240 out of his Supplemental Security Income, which is $997 per month.

Instead of focusing on just surviving day to day on the streets, Emery can now start focusing on the possibilities in life. Maybe he can find a hobby. Maybe he can get a job.

If Emery wants to stay off the street for good, he may have to keep his distance from some of the people he once associated with — who, he said, often bled him of the little he had.

“That’s my biggest downfall — feeling for other people,” he told me.

Lara Tannenbaum, who manages the homeless programs in Oakland’s Human Services Department, recognizes that continuing relationships formed on the streets can drag people back into destitution. For many formerly homeless people, getting a new home isn’t the end of their troubles. Tannenbaum said housing navigators continue to offer support after people get the keys to their new places.

“That is very much something that our system tries to support as people move into permanent housing,” she said. “It’s a struggle for many, many people.”

Otis R. Taylor Jr. is the East Bay columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, focusing on the people who make the region a fascinating place to live and work. A South Carolina transplant, Otis spent more than a decade at The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper, writing about arts, culture and entertainment. Previously, Otis was the managing editor of a tech startup. Otis is interested in reporting on issues relating to diversity and equality in the East Bay, as well as the region’s history, culture and politics. He studied English at Clemson University.